


Too Cold

by ForNought



Series: Too Hot, Too Cold [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Awkwardness, Embarrassment, M/M, Winter, vagueing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 09:38:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6189436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForNought/pseuds/ForNought
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first day of the year and a fresh start where old habits are revisited and plans get changed. <br/>Also Sousuke finds Kisumi very annoying but what else in new?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Cold

Sousuke hadn’t even had the time to sigh into his phone receiver before Kisumi whined in a way that was probably meant to be appealing. No matter how much he was badgered, Sousuke would never admit that it was sort of appealing.

“Do you remember who it was who suggested the shrine visit?”

“Never mind that. We’re in the Mcdonald’s by your school.”

Sousuke paused in tugging on his boots. He pulled his foot out of the boot and held the phone between his shoulder and his cheek as he loosened the laces. “I don’t go to school anymore.”

“Stop trying to be cute, Sousuke, it is still your school. If it makes you feel any better we are at the McDonald’s near Samezuka.” Sousuke wriggled his toes, wondered whether there was much point in going out. He sighed. This time Kisumi had waited until after the sound to whine. “Please, Sousuke, I look really great today so you have to come.”

“You could just send me a picture if that is all that matters.”

“But if I sent you a picture I wouldn’t get to see you chewing your lips off as you tried your hardest to be contrary. I want to see you agreeing with me on a spiritual level while telling me how ugly I look. Also I want to see how cute you look while you try to convince me that you didn’t make an effort.”

Despite the heat that was creeping from the back of his neck, Sousuke muttered, “I didn’t make an effort. See you got half of what you wanted.”

“Hold on,” Kisumi said curtly. There was rustling before a more timid voice was speaking.

“Sousuke-san,” Hayato said. Guilt was quick to clutch at Sousuke’s chest. But he had made a fuss about the way Hayato spoke before. His wish had sort of been granted but Sousuke really wished it hadn’t been. “Um, Sousuke-san, this is Hayato. Kisumi-niichan and I would like it very much if you could join us. I have saved up some pocket money so I could even buy you a milkshake if you would like.”

“You don’t have to do that, Hayato. I’ll come. Sorry.”

He hung up before Kisumi could reclaim his phone and searched through the saved notes on his phone for directions.

 

 

Sousuke was mostly surprised that Kisumi hadn’t been lying. Being at McDonald’s would have been a stupid thing to lie about but there was still room in Sousuke’s mind to imagine searching the fast-food restaurant next to the train station and find no familiarity. But Kisumi hadn’t been lying. He was pushing his phone in Hayato’s face and ignoring the minute protestations against the photo that was being taken. Kisumi was noisily telling Hayato how cute he would be if he’d just pose for the picture and Hayato’s refusals were the kind of noisy they could only be when he forgot he was in public.  

He tried to hide his smile as he approached but his cheeks hadn’t quite unbunched by the time Kisumi clocked him. Just a small raise of his eyebrows as he mimicked Hayato’s whining.

“I’m here.” Sousuke announced himself with a mumble and lifted his hand to meet Kisumi’s outstretched hand. The clasp of their fingers lasted a fraction of a second before Sousuke was unwinding his scarf from around his neck and Kisumi was prodding Hayato’s full cheeks. “What’s going on?”

“There was a change of plan.”

Hayato offered Sousuke a closed-mouth smile before turning back to his fries which had been tipped out onto a napkin. He chewed methodically, his nose wriggling rabbit-like with the movement of his jaw.

“He changed his mind,” Kisumi said softly. “We bumped into Kou earlier and she suggested we meet up for something to eat. It will probably be a bit too hectic anyway.”

“We’re just going to sit here for the New Year?” Sousuke clarified. “What about when McDonald’s closes?”

Sousuke slid into the seat opposite Kisumi and watched the slow tilt of Kisumi’s head as he delicately placed his phone on the table and glanced at Hayato. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

Hayato gripped his napkin, piled high with fries, and slid it towards Sousuke. He very quietly said, “Would you like some?”

“Thank you very much,” Sousuke said as he took the smallest of the fries. Hayato offered a small smile as he put the fries back within comfortable nibbling distance. One of the many annoying things about Kisumi was his instance on attempting wordless conversations. Sousuke was not well versed in significant looks so he could only stare blankly back as he chewed.

 

Gou was red in the face when she finally arrived. She hadn’t given much away in her messages, or perhaps Kisumi had glossed over much of the content of the messages when he relayed them. Something was clearly wrong though. She collapsed into the seat next to Sousuke and squeezed his shoulder as a greeting.

“You look nice,” Sousuke said. A compliment seemed like it would get the best reaction. Gou smiled, closed-lipped and perhaps even a little snottily. Hayato pushed a handful of spare napkins towards her and she actually chuckled a bit as that as she hastily grabbed some.

She was making a mess of wiping her nose. Sousuke understood entirely why she had turned towards him to rid herself of the dripping from the end of her nose. She had her back towards the rest of the restaurant but Sousuke felt there were definitely too many witnesses to her work. Namely Sousuke. She finally sniffed and sat up straight as she scrunched the used napkin in her hands.

“Weren’t you supposed to bring someone?” Kisumi asked after a considerable amount of silence on his part. Sousuke was impressed that Kisumi could keep his mouth for such a long time. He was also impressed at the sliver of astuteness that Kisumi pretended to have was out-voted by the clumsy, inconsiderate part of his brain.  

“I figured I would need to devote one hundred percent of my attention to protecting your brother while you two be disgusting together.”

“Disgusting?” Kisumi fluttered his eyelashes and simpered, “But Sousuke and I are so adorable together.”

Sousuke wasn’t exactly inclined to agree with Kisumi. Adorable was pushing it. Sousuke could admit wholeheartedly to being disgustingly embarrassed about linking his fingers with Kisumi’s and the things Kisumi can make him say. It had been a while since they had held hands but Sousuke would have to wait a bit longer before being disgustingly embarrassed – perhaps even disgustingly embarrassing.

“Let’s agree to disagree on that one,” Gou said. Then, “If I give you some money will you go and get me a burger?”

It was only when Sousuke felt a kick to the sole of his foot and a nudge to his elbow that he realised Gou had been speaking to him.

“Why can’t you get it yourself?”

“I’m tired.”

Tired. Right. The redness hadn’t entirely subsided from Gou’s face and it was difficult to attribute that to an excited flush. More like flares of anger that still burned at the surface of her skin.

“How about you come with me because I don’t have enough hands to carry food for you, me and some annoying guy who would insist he wasn’t hungry if I asked.”

Sousuke couldn’t be sure whether Gou’s eyes always sparkled or if the glossiness was a prelude to tears. She nodded anyway and Sousuke hoped he wouldn’t have to try not to panic if she cried.  

“For the record I am always hungry and the fact you would make such a claim about me is very upsetting,” Kisumi said solemnly as Sousuke and Gou stood. Hayato absently patted Kisumi’s shoulder and that was all the comforting he was going to get.

It was not until they were queueing that Sousuke thought it safe to ask, “Did you have a fight?”

“Maybe.”

“Was she mad at you?”

“A part of me couldn’t help but think that following the advice of someone like you would be a bad idea. You’d only just had a massive argument with Kisumi before you tried to help me out. But I also think it had to be done. I had to… I think she was more surprised than anything really.”

Gou’s eyes bored into the jacket of the man before them in the queue.

Sousuke wasn’t really sure how things had seemed to Gou but ‘massive’ was an overstatement. The actual argument between Sousuke and Kisumi had consisted of very level words, short and swift in their delivery, while Sousuke failed to think himself out of the predicament he had found himself in. What was worse than the three minutes before Kisumi told Sousuke to leave were the weeks which stretched on an on until Sousuke could barely remember the callouses of Kisumi’s hands, the awkward knobs of his Kisumi’s spine, the baby-soft ends of Kisumi’s hair, the safety of Kisumi’s whispers, the infinity of Kisumi’s smiles.

Once or twice Sousuke had wondered what would happen if the silence stretched on forever.

Probably nothing. It would have been a worse kind of nothing than the nothing he had been living when he still got to pretend he wasn’t a fool for Kisumi. Not that it was something he had freely admitted. Not that it was something that Kisumi had even asked him about. Not that either of them had ever mentioned that the kissing, the talking, the finding time to waste together, was really even a _thing_ anyway. It was just…

“I’m sorry,” Sousuke said.

Gou only hummed and shuffled forwards as the queue got shorter. “What for?”

“I’m sorry that you didn’t get the answer you wanted.”

“I’m not even sure what answer I did want.”

 

 

Kisumi kept grinning down at the screen of his phone. It was irritating for some reason. Sousuke could only blame himself though. He was the one who refused to look at the picture Kisumi had taken when they arrived at the deserted park. He was the one who said he didn’t care what he looked like. He was the one who had to deal with his decision when Gou cooed at him after looking at the picture for far too long, when Hayato forced him into a very solemn vow about something very vague, when Kisumi’s grin turned wicked and he said absolutely nothing to Sousuke.

Sousuke was going to die because he had obviously done something very embarrassing. No matter how hard he tried to remember how he had posed, what he had said (if anything), he couldn’t think of anything out of the ordinary. He should have known some trap would have been laid for him, that he wouldn’t have been forgiven so easily. He should have refused to be in the selfie that Kisumi was so _insistent_ about.

Gou didn’t look so glitter-eyed as she and Hayato got absorbed in some game that Kisumi had apparently invented. It involved mimicry and mirroring and Sousuke could not remember the last time he felt so murderous towards so many people. He supposed the game wasn’t that annoying. Kisumi was a buffer between Sousuke’s nerves and the uninhibited giggling. But Kisumi was getting on Sousuke’s nerves too.

“You win,” Sousuke grumbled into the wool of his scarf.

A very unfortunate gust of wind tugged at Kisumi’s hair as he turned to frown at Sousuke. Typical that he’d somehow end up looking cinematic when Sousuke was already revealing his own simplicity.

“I want to see the picture you took.”

Sousuke hated that he could see the exact second that inquisitiveness was devoured by deviousness.

“But, Sousuke, I took so many pictures today. Should we look through all of them until you find the one you want to look at?”

The only thing Sousuke could be thankful for was the fact that it was the middle of the first day of the year. That nobody else was around. That he could blame his own rose rush on the cold. That Gou and Hayato were deep enough in their game to tune out the way Kisumi’s voice projected. That he was able to occasionally set aside his own pettiness.

“No. I just want to see the… group picture.”

“Hmm, you’ll have to be more specific. Can you describe it to me?”

Really. Sousuke could have a conversation with Kisumi without being petty and childish and just as contrary as Kisumi _always_ was.

“It’s… The one I never saw before. The one that makes me wish I could punch myself in the face.”

Kisumi actually laughed at that. It was an ugly, startled laugh and, goodness knew how Sousuke was…

Sousuke shivered. Kisumi blushed. Sousuke stared at the ground. Kisumi withdrew his curled fingers from his pockets. Sousuke shut his eyes. Kisumi tapped at his phone a few times. Sousuke steadied his breathing. Kisumi nudged at Sousuke’s shoulder.

Sousuke blinked a few times.

Sousuke accepted Kisumi’s phone so he could take a closer look.

Sousuke really wished he could punch himself in the face for real.

The picture was a bit blurry, which was a shame. Hayato was pulling a cheesy grin which was in no way balanced out by Gou’s overly-cutesy pout and peace-sign. Kisumi wasn’t even posing. His shoulders looked awkward from the way he held his phone and he might even have been mid-sentence if his open mouth and half-blinking eyes were anything to go by. Sousuke wasn’t quite smiling, and maybe the photograph was an accident taken too early before the one that Kisumi would keep and show to people. Sousuke wasn’t quite smiling and his face was too close to Kisumi’s and he was cross-eyed as he gazed at Kisumi and Sousuke really hated the picture.

“You look so bad in this picture. You should delete it,” Sousuke finally said.

“I know. So bad.”

Sousuke handed the phone back.

“We should think about going home soon.”

“Yeah. I’ll e-mail the picture to you when I get home.”

Sousuke shrugged. Sousuke smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Finally part 2 of 3(.5 ish but shhh).
> 
> Seasons have changed but not much else has.  
> This wasn't the part 2 I originally had in mind but it fits a bit better thematically. I am hastening to post the thing that isn't the third and final part but rather a side piece that this installment was an offshoot of. No idea about the actual status of part three though. i will try my best!


End file.
